


Make Just One Someone Happy (And You Will Be Happy Too)

by ordinary_ineffability



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M, Pacific Rim Secret Santa 2014, Presents, Tumblr: pacrimsecretsanta, fluff with a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 09:34:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2846288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ordinary_ineffability/pseuds/ordinary_ineffability
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>' “There is a note… of sorts. ‘Merry Christmas you nerd, from a secret Santa’. I can’t say I recognise the writing, given it’s all in capital letters…” Hermann had muttered, before carefully starting to unwrap the present. Newt had left it at that – until he’d heard a noise that he hadn’t expected. </p>
<p>Hermann had been chuckling. '</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>In which Newt plays Secret Santa, Hermann is mildly alarmed by presents, and Lars Gottlieb is once again proven to be a bit of a douchebag.</p>
<p>_____<br/>My PacRim Secret Santa gift to Tumblr user themcnobody. The prompt given was, "Anything Invovling Newton and/or Hermann being cute with presents". Hope you like this, and merry Christmas!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Make Just One Someone Happy (And You Will Be Happy Too)

It had been coming up towards the December of his second year of the Jaeger program, and Newt had been Christmas shopping. Technically, he wasn’t meant to be celebrating Christmas at all, were his family’s religion one that he practised, but his father and uncle had been very much in favour of the winter holiday. Their excitement for the day had passed on to Newt, who was often considered (if Shatterdome gossip was to be believed) one of the most festive people in the ‘Dome – second only to Linda, an engineer who would bombard the buildings with mistletoe and Marshall-approved decorations.

And so, there he’d been, out looking for presents to send to his (few) loved ones and (fewer) friends. 

He’d been debating between a tie and a hip flask for his uncle when he’d seen it. At first glance, it was a plain white mug, but that was before he had spotted the edge of a line on it. Turning it around, Newt had found himself choking on a laugh. There, on the mug, was an image of a 90˚ angle, with the words _‘I am always right’_ printed below. Immediately, a certain co-worker had sprung to mind, and with a sly grin the mug had been added to the small pile of presents-to-be.

\--

Once it came down to Christmas Eve itself, however, Newt had started to have second thoughts. When it came to Christmas spirit, Hermann was the Ebenezer Scrooge to his Bob Cratchit. Whilst Newt would admire the few decorations around, grinning at the sight of them, the mathematician would gripe and grumble about the _‘wasted finance’_ and potential fire hazard risk. As if there would be a fire in somewhere so cold and full of metal, Newt would usually reply (and receive a pointed glare in return). 

Perhaps he’d be angry at the present? If so, he’d likely continue his foul mood into the New Year, which was far from what Newt (or the Shatterdome) needed at that point. And it would be a lot worse for him if Hermann directed that anger straight at the biochemist. 

Coming to a new decision, he had wrapped the gift and checked the clock. The one upside to Hermann’s disinterest in Christmas was the fact that he kept, as ever, to his routine – meaning that, at 11:37pm, the mathematician had left the K-science laboratories for the night. Giving it a spare 5 minutes, just to be certain, Newt had crept along the corridors until he’d reached the lab they shared. The coast clear, he’d shuffled in and gone to work.

___

Walking into the lab the next day, Newt had struggled not to laugh at the look on his co-worker’s face. He’d arrived to the sight of Hermann stood a few metres away from the present, eyeing it as if it were a bomb ready to go off. Remembering the plan at the last moment, he’d ambled up to Hermann and glanced pointedly between the man and the gift.

“So, what’s going on here?” he asked, playing the obliviousness card to its full potential and hoping that Hermann wouldn’t be suspicious. Thankfully, Hermann had been too busy looking more than slightly alarmed about the thing on his desk to pick up on his higher-than-normal pitch.

“I haven’t the slightest idea. I walked in this morning to find this… _parcel_ , upon my desk.” The mathematician replied.

“Well… Have you tried opening it? Does it have a note or anything?” Newt had asked, watching in growing amusement as Hermann had slowly edged towards the gift and poked at it lightly with his cane. When nothing had happened, he’d exhaled and tentatively picked up the present. Suddenly unable to watch, Newt had scurried over to his side of the lab, glancing up every now and again to watch Hermann’s progress. 

“There is a note… of sorts. _‘Merry Christmas you nerd, from a secret Santa’_. I can’t say I recognise the writing, given it’s all in capital letters…” Hermann had muttered, before carefully starting to unwrap the present. Newt had left it at that – until he’d heard a noise that he hadn’t expected. 

_Hermann had been chuckling._

Newt had remembered to lift his jaw from where it had fallen just in time. His wide eyes had remained, however, taking in the image of Hermann trying to calm himself, one hand held in front of his mouth in order to be quiet.

Noticing the attention, Hermann’s cheeks had flushed red in embarrassment. Newt had just grinned, before remembering that he wasn’t meant to know what it was.   
“Have you any idea who this is from, Dr Geiszler?” Hermann had asked, trying desperately to look stern. Newt had simply shrugged, before making some comment about the point of ‘secret’ Santas and to _“call me Newt, dude, honestly”_. A few minutes (and some bickering) later, and all had returned to normal. All the same, Newt couldn’t shake the memory of Hermann laughing, and the smile that had remained on his face every time the mathematician had looked up and spotted the mug again.

\--

The time that the next Christmas had arrived, Newt had planned ahead. The world had begun to fall apart slightly, but somehow the miracle of online shopping was still in existence, and the scientist had put it to good use. He had waited until the January sales had begun, before hitting the cyber-shelves and essentially going on a geeky shopping spree. Alongside the kaiju merch and various other items that he’d bought for himself, Newt had found himself ordering a few potential ‘secret gifts’. It was an extension to his love of the Christmas spirit, he’d told himself, firmly ignoring the small voice in the back of his mind wondering whether it was simply because he wanted to hear Hermann’s laugh again.

And so, by the end of Christmas Eve, another present had been left on his co-worker’s desk. This time, Hermann had pried apart the wrapping in order to find a mini Portal turret. Unable to decide which one to go for, Newt had simply chosen a random one. Therefore, he had found it slightly hilarious when Hermann had opened the box to find a rainbow-striped turret inside. Hermann hadn’t laughed at that one, but something just as rare happened: he’d grinned. It wasn’t the condescending smirk or pained grimace that were more commonly seen, but a genuine, wide smile.

Hermann had asked questions once again, wondering who on Earth it could have been, but after listening to him going through the various possible suspects (none of them being him), he’d decided to cut in. “Hermann, dude, why don’t you just go with the fact that you have a returning secret Santa and let it remain a mystery? Don’t question it and ruin it, just go with it!” he’d said, laughing.

Hermann had paused, before sighing lightly. “I suppose you are right. It’s just… I am unaccustomed to receiving gifts, especially for Christmas. We didn’t celebrate it, when I was a child.” He’d replied.

“Ah – the whole Jewish thing?” Newt had asked, understanding. That was, until Hermann spoke again.

“No, father simply felt that there was no point in wasting time and money on something so frivolous. Birthdays were much the same – we would receive one gift each year, and it would always been something useful. Most of mine were textbooks.”

“You…“ Newt had gaped, “You mean you never got a ‘fun’ present? No toys, or anything?” Hermann’s head had shook, and Newt had never wanted to drop-kick Doctor Lars Gottlieb more (which was saying something). “But… But you were a kid. A _kid_! All kids should get a toy for their birthday.”

“My mother bought me a few toys, during my younger childhood. I had to keep them hidden whenever father would come to my room, though, or else he’d remove them. That all stopped when I was nine, though.” Hermann had said, almost as if he was trying to placate his co-worker. It hadn’t worked, as Newt had spent the remainder of the morning muttering and being particularly vicious with the sample he was working on. As they were finishing up for the evening, however, he’d calmed himself down and was more determined than ever about the continuing gifts.

\--

The next few years saw the rest of the online-ordered gifts appearing from the ‘secret Santa’. Next had been the TARDIS cookie jar, which had earned him a snort. The year after that provided a Lego spaceship set that Hermann looked about ready to cry at. That year, Hermann had admitted semi-sheepishly that as a child he had been obsessed with space. That admission was included two years later, when Hermann unwrapped a small telescope.

(The year before had been a book of science puns that had Hermann trying not to laugh and failing miserably) 

The microscope had caused Newt to witness yet another warm smile, and as cliché as it had sounded the scientist was fairly sure that his heart skipped a beat. It had been earlier that year when, during a drunken conversation with Tendo, he had come to the realisation that maybe, just maybe, he had a not-so-small crush on his co-worker and, dare he say it, friend.

(Tendo had teased him about it for a solid twenty minutes)

Ever since then, however, Newt had been trying to get Hermann to smile at any opportunity. Unfortunately, he had been mostly unsuccessful until Christmas. Part of him yearned to tell Hermann the truth, to have him direct that smile in his direction rather than at the telescope that he was now studying. He’d known, though, that it wasn’t a good idea to give it away then. Instead, he would simply have to hope that he could maybe tell him one day in the future.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

\--

As soon as the news had come through that they were to be moved to Hong Kong, Newt put a present that he’d been holding onto for a while into use. That Christmas Day, Hermann had picked up the gift (he’d made a habit of waiting until Newt arrived before opening the presents) and paused. “It’s… _soft_.” He muttered, glancing up at Newt briefly before curiously tugging the edge of the wrapping paper open. 

Hermann’s eyes had widened slightly before he’d pulled out the gift for the year: a knitted sweater vest. For Newt, it had a dual purpose – on the one hand, it provided Hermann with something warm to wear in the next Shatterdome, and on the other it was the perfect addition to Hermann’s _‘I-literally-wear-your-granddad’s-clothes’_ fashion sense. It had been the latter that he had commented on, but he had been surprised to find that Hermann seemed to genuinely like the vest. 

In fact, Hermann had liked the thing so much that he’d come into work the following day wearing the thing, despite the fact that they were in a warm enough climate not to need it yet. Additionally, as soon as they’d made it to Hong Kong it had become a regular item of clothing. And, much as it pained Newt to admit, it made Hermann look very dorky, but it a sort of adorable way that was wreaking havoc on his heart.

\--

The last gift to be given, before Operation Pitfall and the end of the Kaiju attacks, had been a box of coloured chalk. Hermann had spent about three minutes carefully pulling each colour out and testing them on the nearest blackboard, and the tired but fond smile he’d worn had made the nightmare Newt had gone through finding the chalk more than worthwhile. The mathematician had been ridiculously tense for months, stress building as they came closer and closer to the risk of multiple attacks. Everyone had been feeling the pressure, in fact, but to Newt it seemed as if Hermann was bearing the weight of it more than anyone else bar the Marshall. 

The stress had been so bad for the last six weeks that Hermann seemed to be leaning on his cane more than ever before when walking. The possibility of it all causing his friend (and crush) physical discomfort was horrifying to Newt, who had been subtly attempting to make Gottlieb’s life easier in any way he could. He’d dialed down the insults and the music, he’d been making especially sure that he didn’t leave anything that could be a potential tripping hazard around, all sorts. He’d even started to bring Hermann a mug of tea whenever he’d go to the canteen for coffee. On the upside, this had caused first looks of surprise, and then looks of gratitude, to pass over Hermann’s features whenever he did so, but on the downside it barely helped the other man in the bigger picture.

Frankly, Newt had been more excited to leave the ‘secret Santa’ gift than he had been for Christmas itself, so desperate was he to put another smile on the face of the other. And, thankfully, it had worked. Hermann had spent the remainder of the day highlighting parts of his equations by writing them in different colours, and by the time dinner had rolled around he seemed calmer and more at ease than he had been for weeks.

\--

After the clock had been officially stopped, the celebrations began. Little by little, people were digging out various bottles of alcohol, and an informal party began. There was a mixed atmosphere, equal parts mourning for the lost and celebration for the living. Instead of joining the others like he usually would have, however, Newt found himself sitting on one of the walkways overlooking most of the celebrations.

The rhythmic tapping of a cane behind him would normally have been the warning Newt needed for Hermann approaching him. Since the drift, however, he seemed to have a sixth sense as to the whereabouts of the mathematician. An abstract consideration about experimenting with it all at a later date flickered in his mind before vanishing again. Instead, he tilted his head backwards, eyeing the approaching man upside-down. “Hey, Herms. Not partying with the others?”

Hermann scoffed. “That’s more your area than mine, socialising. I could ask you the same thing.” Eyeing the floor for a pause, Hermann placed his cane on the floor before joining Newt from where his legs dangled over. 

Newt had watched him settle in silence, considering how to word the many questions that he had. He had, essentially, been given a flash tour of Gottlieb’s life, and it was still hovering somewhere in his subconscious. 

The other thing floating around his mind had been the fact that the reverse was also true: Hermann had seen his mind. And that, amongst the many other things, Hermann must have seen two parts that he’d meant to be oblivious to. Newt’s feelings for him, and the true identity of the ‘secret Santa’. Both were things that had needed to be addressed eventually, and both were things that surely Hermann had seen. That did not, of course, mean that Newt wanted to be the one to start that conversation. And so he’d sat in silence, waiting to hear the accusations begin, the questions and rejection.

It hadn’t come.

Instead, Hermann had watched the party below and asked about Newt’s childhood. Newt couldn’t work out whether he’d felt annoyed or relieved.

\---  
Due to the rush of media focus and deconstruction that followed, the rest of the year had flashed by. In what seemed like no time at all, the Hong Kong Shatterdome was preparing to shut down and it was Christmas Eve. 

Newt had struggled to find an appropriate gift for Hermann, but with businesses starting to open up once more and the fact that they, alongside Mako, Raliegh, Herc and Tendo, had been on a worldwide tour from September through to November, he’d managed to gain a small collection of trinkets to wrap up for one last gift. 

Walking slowly towards the lab, it registered that this would be the last time he did something like this. That it could also potentially be the last time he’d see Hermann. That thought alone had caused his eyes to sting, and he’d made a detour to the bathroom in order to splash water on his face to hide his reddened eyes. Eventually, though, he’d reached the lab – and froze in the doorway.

Hermann was waiting for him.

There was a beat of silence where the two looked at each other, before looking at the gift in Newt’s hands, and back up. 

Realising that it was too late to run away, the biochemist slowly approached the other, holding the present out. After a pause, Hermann took it – before putting it onto the desk next to him and picking up a tidily-wrapped gift and placing it in Newt’s (shaking) hands. With that, he grabbed his cane and stepped past the other man. However, before Newt could open the gift, Gottlieb cleared his throat lightly and spoke

“We'll talk about this - and I mean all of it - in the morning. But for now..."

Curious as to why Hermann had trailed off, Newt turned around to face him, in time to see the other man step closer. They met each other's gaze for a second, and Newt saw a flash of determination appear on Hermann's face. The next thing he knew, something soft brushed against his cheek. In shock, he placed a trembling hand against where he'd felt the contact - _the kiss_ \- and looked into warm brown eyes. 

"Thank you.” Hermann murmured, offering the most tender smile Newt had ever seen.

"Thank you, and merry Christmas... _Newt_."

**Author's Note:**

> The mug mentioned does, in fact, exist! I found it whilst looking up random gifts for geeks and such, and immediately thought of Herms. Found here: http://www.cafepress.co.uk/mf/91221386/im-always-right_mugs?productId=1326143572


End file.
